


Make Merry

by kyarorin



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, sapphic longing, somewhat introspective, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 10:50:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13832610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyarorin/pseuds/kyarorin
Summary: First impressions are everything, but second impressions can be just as good.





	Make Merry

Mother's Heart is loud, itching under her skin. And unlike those Aspirants still inside the lodge, Aloy isn't interested in staring at the ceiling for hours on end. As Vala lays down Aloy take a look at her single bunk, how here's just a little bit of distance between her and the others. She ignores Bast's loud complaining- his claims at needing to sleep apparently shoved to the wayside as he edges just shy of insulting her outright once again.

The rest of her entire life rests on tomorrow. There's  _ someone else _ with a focus wandering about, and stranger in these lands. The celebration seems to only get louder as the sun goes further down...

And for the first time in her life she is inside, the boisterous singing and laughter no longer muffled by distance and walls and tribal law.

Groups of Nora drunkenly stumble by, some laughing, some singing. Their eyes no longer ghost over her as if she isn't there, instead widening, double taking, some even cringe or look away after a moment's contact.

Expected, but it still hurts.

_ At least no one's throwing things at me. _ She thinks wryly, furtive movement in the corner of her eye making her glance aside- Vala? Disappearing quickly behind a home. 

She gives her head a little shake, wondering if she's seeing things before she moves on, searching for that Oseram explorer.

What is most unexpected are the welcoming nods and smiles other Nora give her as she meanders through Mother's Heart, taking in everything she can. Some even speak to her, kindly, when she greets them. 

Perhaps, even if she fails to  _ win _ the Proving and not get answers about her exile, she can still make a home here.  

"Aloy!" A hand claps on her shoulder, and Aloy barely stops herself from flipping the woman over her shoulder.

Olara's eyes are bright in the firelight as the sun begins to set. Her shoulder tingles from the unfamiliar,  _ friendly _ contact. 

She barely gets a word in before Olara pulls her into a genuine hug, "Oh, I  _ cannot _ thank you enough for what you've done! I was so worried Brom was gone, had died alone..."

Aloy awkwardly pats the other woman's back, feeling her cheeks flush and her legs tense- she is not used to this, Rost, for all his kindness, has never been as free with touch as she has seen parents with their own children and she does not blame him. This feeling is not exactly unpleasant but with so many not so friendly eyes around, Aloy finds she cannot relax into it despite Olara's obvious happiness at seeing her. "Olara, hey- you're not with Brom?"

"He still doesn't feel ready to return. Perhaps next summer." Olara pulls away and shakes her head, the beads in her dreads clink merrily. "We knew you would be here and I wanted to see you- he wishes you luck in the Proving."

Some of that tenseness between her shoulders bleeds away. Teersa, Teb, Olara... And, technically, Brom. She's not universally reviled amongst her tribe, it's... a start. 

"Thank you," Aloy says, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Maybe she doesn't believe in the All Mother, but she knows her tribe's stories and she knows their land- perhaps that will be enough to bridge this gap.

"Don't thank either of us," Olara chuckles, guiding Aloy by the elbow as she continues, "Once you pass the Proving, everyone will have to believe me and Teb about the redhaired outcast girl being the honorable Brave in the whole tribe." 

That causes Aloy to snort and she looks away quickly; the faith in her is heartwarming but- there, once again just outside the village's light, is Vala, a shadow leaning against a merchant stall. Olara's voice continues, softer now as she takes her by the elbow and guides her up the hill towards the feast, "But, we also knew you wouldn't have anyone here to support you- so I thought, perhaps..."

The black woman shrugs, her smile sad, "It's the least I could do after you found Brom and brought him back to me."

As she sits, Olara calls to a waitress and exchanges a few shards for some drink, handing one over. "This one is on me." 

Aloy isn't sure how to feel about this- warmed and rankled all at once- and Olara hasn't done anything to earn the anger that's been building since she was old enough to understand her position. Olara is not the one who cast her out, Olara is not the one who decided she was tainted. 

So Aloy sighs and takes a drink of the meade, humming into the cup as she tries to gather her thoughts. 

"I know I helped you but..." But it was such a frustrating thing, to be noticed, accepted  _ now _ and not when she had been a vulnerable  _ newborn baby _ . "You don't know if I'll even finish the Proving, being seen so friendly with me could put you at risk of being outcast."  _ Along with Brom _ .

And he may not survive another ten years.

Olara looks down into her cup and she smiles, laughing quietly. "You act so tough, but you've got such a big heart."

Aloy's eyebrows furrow, but Olara reaches across the table and clasps her forearm, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "That's a risk I'm willing to take- because, I've seen what you're capable of, I followed you, remember? Even if you don't  _ win _ , I know you're going to finish the Proving and all of your agemates, all of the other Braves? They need to get over themselves and to accept you as their sister in arms. As  _ Nora _ .

"And I know a sensible young Brave-to-Be to start with! Vala! Come here!" Olara waves the mug in a come-hither motion and Aloy wonders if it'd be too obvious if she suddenly disappears under the table. 

She has no idea what to think of her sort-of-ally against Bast and apparent stalker as the admittedly- and Aloy tries to be as honest with herself as she is with everyone else- attractive young woman strides over. Confident, calculating. And with a lightness that hints at her skill.

Vala  _ will _ be a challenge tomorrow, and Aloy finds herself looking forward to that as much as she wants to escape from that alluring smile.

"It's supposed to be a festival! Eat! Drink! Be merry!" Olara takes one look at Aloy's tense, almost panic stricken expression. "You don't know how, do you?"

"If she doesn't, you definitely called over the right person, ‘Lara," Vala interjects as she sits down across from them both. Something in other young woman's toothy smile makes the back of Aloy's neck heat up even more.

...thank goodness it is dark and the dim lighting, hopefully, hides most of her blush.

This isn't the kind of... attention that she's used to, Olara treats her like Rost treats her, like she treats her brother.It is... Familial. 

Her experience so far with others has been to be out right ignored or seen as a threat to be negotiated with or demeaned. Her shards mean more to Karst than strictly keeping to tribal law does.

Vala is set a world apart.

And Aloy has no idea what it is, or what to do with it- one thing Rost was never able to teach her is how to interact with her own agemates. 

She looks at the other Aspirant warily as Olara leaves them to it, "I thought you were going to rest?"

Vala looks up into the skies with an aggrieved look on her face, "Bast." And nothing more. 

Aloy just raises an eyebrow and Vala laughs slightly to herself in the awkward silence, her lips curling into a smile. "Among other reasons. " She snags a roll and tosses it between her hands. "Olara's right- you're not just competition, but someone I'm going to be hunting with, on patrol, or fighting alongside- sometime days at a time." 

The young woman pulls the roll apart, and begins to spread an herbed butter over it, "And unlike Bast, I'm not an idiot. 

"What makes you my competition in the Proving also makes you someone I  _ want _ to be paired with on hunts. You're good, you can track better than most hunters twice our age, and..."

Here Vala trails off, looking into Aloy's face with an unreadable mix of emotions- some calculation, some curiosity, and something else Aloy cannot quite identify. "You help people, when saying so much as hello is forbidden," the slight roll of her eyes lets Aloy know what she thinks of that. "When there's people like Bast, who go out of their way to make your lives hard."

Aloy bites back her snort- Vala doesn't even know the half of it, but she's curious to see what she has to say.

"You're the kind of person I'd want to know," Vala says with a shrug, smiling and leaning forward. Aloy tries, fails, to still her expression into something neutral. Whatever it is Vala sees in there it seems to disappoint her. 

"I guess what I'm trying to say is.... Friends? At least starting after the Proving," she chuckles. The dark skinned girl holds out her hand in offering and Aloy- without thought or pause- takes it.

Her hand is just as warm as Olara's.

Aloy withdraws her hand and coughs into awkwardly. What's gotten into her?

Still, she smiled and shrugs, "Sure. Why not?" She takes another sip of the meade, her cheeks warming further from the alcohol. 

Rost brews his own, but he rarely lets her drink- especially not his special brew he keeps in what he thinks is a hidden crevice behind their home. 

She leans forward onto her elbows as Vala takes a drink out of her own mug, raising one brow at her... friend. "Well, are you going to show me a good time or..?"

Vala chokes, sputtering.

Aloy finds herself rising, leaning over the table to pat awkwardly at her shoulder. "Did... I say something strange?"

"I'll say!" Vala gets out between coughs, thumping her chest and grinning broadly at the other girl. Waving her off, Vala takes another swig of her drink and set it on the table, the hollow thunk drowned out by the singing.

"It's nothing bad, just a little frisky." Vala's dark eyes watch her for a moment, "Though I wouldn't say that to anyone you  _ don't _ want to take to bed."

It's Aloy's turn to choke and she feels her entire face go red- all the way up to her ears as she sits down. "Ah."

She is not thinking of her, and Vala- nope. Not at all. 

The other young woman tilts her head to the side, a mischievous look in her eyes. "We  _ have _ just met after all." She doesn't even pretend to be disinterested, giving the redhaired Aspirant a rakish look. "There's always a hunting trip or two."

" _ Vala! _ " 

\----

"So then the idiot just  _ runs _ and smacks right into a tree, looks around to see if anyone saw- and there I am, hiding in the tall grass,  _ dying _ -" Aloy's laughing hard with Vala, both of them leaning on each other as they wander back towards the lodge, the revelry beginning to wane among even most ardent Braves. 

"He just stands up! Puts his hands on his hips and goes, ‘You've got this, Bast!' Meanwhile, the rabbit is  _ long _ gone." Vala's free hand sketches a vague picture of the absurdity. 

The sound that escape from Aloy isn't one she'd made in  _ years, _ but the free laughter feels good- just as good as leaning against Vala does, feeling the warmth of her body against hers as they stick close just-  _ Because _ .

She doesn't want to ruin this. 

"He really, really can't hunt?" Aloy snickers, looking around the now path- that one brave is no longer on his roof, yelling. The crunching of their feet along the path seems strangely loud now that the most have gone to their homes. 

"Machines? I may not like him much, but he's good. Anything living? He hesitates." Vala snorts, her teeth flashing in an amused smile. "Especially bunnies."

Several someones laughs a few cabins over and the two girls slowly begin to break apart; suddenly their closeness seems strange and Aloy slows further the closer they get to the Proving Lodge.

Aloy almost doesn't want this night to end, to lose this feeling of easy acceptance- of friendship with one of her own agemates... it blooms in her chest, almost painful. Will any of the other Aspirants take to her so willingly? 

...Or have most already taken Bast's lead?

Vala stops a few steps ahead of her, turning to look back at her curiously. 

She gives the other young woman a half shrug and a smile, unsure how to voice her concerns. "Well... I guess that it's for tonight."

And then for one long moment the world stops as Vala walks closer, so close their bodies are nearly pressed up against each other. Her breath is still sweet from the meade. 

"For tonight, yeah." The ghost of lips press against hers and Vala pulls back, smirking. "Maybe later I can show you an ever better time."

Words catch in her throat as Vala saunters away and into the lodge, ignoring the surly guard with such blatant unconcern that he glares at the door. 

Aloy stands there simply staring after her in- in  _ something _ . 

Anticipation. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to get this out sooner and especially for femmeslash February but we've been on mandatory overtime at work since January and it's not going to end anytime soon. (I wanted to write so much femmeslash this month for HZD and Within the Wires and Alice Isn't Dead... /sob)
> 
> if I had my way for the second game Vala would secretly have survived that damn gatling gun and explosion and we'd get to see some neat adaptive tech that various tribes have created (you CANNOT tell me that no Oseram forgeworker or Carja artisan hasn't tried to make prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs or *anything* disability centered from the machines)


End file.
